Lenten Series: Hope from fatigue

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At about this time in our Lenten season, most of us have adjusted to what we've "given up" and very few of us are thinking about Lent unless we have a specific practice calling us to remember it everyday or are reminded at church. It’s about the time for Lenten fatigue.

Sometimes we feel that fatigue in the justice movement. Many of us feel like the struggles are long and hard. Sometimes the struggles are the norm, and we forget what it was like before the boycott or the vision of “what could be” seems far off in the distance.

I have been involved in organizing immigrant communities in one form or another for more than 10 years. Struggles for immigration reform have become such and intergraded part of my life that I almost don’t remember what it was like to not be working in this struggle. Honestly, sometimes I get fatigued. Sometimes I become numb to the stories of my fellow immigrants for whom the broken immigration system continue to inflict pain and oppression. Even for these folks, fatigue sets in.

However, we know that soon enough Palm Sunday will roll around, and Holy Week will be upon us. We will spend the week remembering what Lent is about, what our Christian identity is about.

It is because we have hope that we practice Lent each year. In the same way, it is because we have hope that we continue to fight for the common good—for the respect and dignity of ALL people. The hope comes to us through the courage of all of us willing to stand up and say, “enough is enough!” It is hope that comes to us through the victories we see because of tenacious organizing and worker leadership. We give thanks for that gift of hope!

This year, each Friday during Lent, IWJ's Organizing Director, Sung Yeon Choi-Morrow, will share reflections based on her pastoral education and experiences in the field helping to move the work for worker justice and a fair economy.